LinkedIn is a great tool for your career, particularly if you own your own business as through your network you can establish yourself as an expert in your field and extend your reach and exposure. But shock horror, you actually need to be active on the platform to get the most from it.  And it’s a platform where size does matter.  Remember, the more first-degree connections you have, the more second- and third-degree connections you have, making you literally one connection away from millions of people.

 Hiring and retaining great people is something we are passionate about and it requires good management and leadership, and a company culture that includes honesty, clarity and treating people consistently well.  Most elements of a company’s success are dependent on these two things – and keeping great team members is no exception.  

Developing strong customer acquisition and customer retention strategies are extremely important to your business’ longevity and to your online reputation. Though the cost associated and overall time spent to acquire customers is typically higher than that of customer retention, both elements have a direct effect on a business’ success and should be regarded equally. With the ever-growing Internet and Social Media space small and large businesses alike have enormous opportunities to reach new prospects and hold on to their established clients.  

These days, it isn’t enough to have a website for your business – your digital storefront extends to social media marketing sites like Facebook and Instagram, and it’s time to start capitalising on it. If your company still doesn’t have an Instagram account or a Facebook fan page, it’s time to get with the program and bring yourself up to speed (or risk falling behind your competition).

The connected customer has emerged as the driving force in a world of constant innovation, mobility, and disruption. New technologies have put customers in the driver’s seat of the marketplace giving them power over which brands sink or swim in the digital age. Businesses that treat customers with awareness and intelligence and put the customer experience at the centre of their business strategies will succeed in this new connected world. So what defines the connected customer and how can businesses keep up with their evolving expectations?

Whether you are starting up a new Social Media Platform or optimising your current platforms, this is an easy 5 step programme which will have you achieving your business goals, and stop you going crazy! We call it Social Media Bingo.

So often the focus is on the negative actions of our people or shortcomings in the procedures that we forget to look at the bigger picture – is it possible that we are so focused on the negative that our strengths have no chance of shining through?

Being small doesn’t mean going unnoticed.  Think about David and Goliath.  Smaller in size, David strategically used his slingshot to attack Goliath’s weak spot.  And, just as in business, small businesses need to maximise their strategic strengths to enable their business to appear larger than it actually is while still celebrating their competitive advantage over their larger counterparts.

People are infatuated with running contests on their Facebook pages. Why? Because fans love free stuff! And contests tend to draw in new fans & increase engagement on the page. But countless pages are breaking Facebook's "rules" (ie. terms of service) and running contests that violate their guidelines.

In an age of Social Media, Omni-Channel Retailing and extending global connections, the choices are becoming greater by the day for consumers. With so much choice, we are becoming more and more driven by price and service when making buying decisions. The flow on effect from this means that businesses are needing to shift focus to brand recognition, values and a strong reputation for great products and services in order to keep customers on board.  

Each year we set ourselves five goals to help keep us focused on business and personal growth.  We got together in December and worked through the five most important things we want for Connect Plus in 2017 and to keep us accountable here they go!

The New Year sees many of us many goals we aim to complete by the end of the year, and 2016 saw the girls at Connect Plus Plus make some lofty goals.  So how did we go?

Christmas, it's a word that strikes terror into the best business owner, marketer or anyone working in retail but it's also the most wonderful time of the year with 40% of revenue for many businesses coming from the month of December alone.  

There is no stopping it now, Christmas is coming and with it the opportunity to make 2016 your best yet by rolling out a Christmas campaign based on the feeling of Christmas rather than yet another discount-driven promotion or having your customers shop elsewhere. We've pulled together a few of our favourite things, Christmas Blog style, to help you through the Christmas planning for your business. No time to delay!

Successful Social Media is more than just posting. It's aligning your social investment to business goals to drive desired outcomes, which clearly takes more than a pretty Facebook page!

Last week we headed off to the Taking Care of Business Roadshow which has been travelling the country over the past month.  If you weren't able to get along here are some of the tips which we picked up. Thanks to Craig Foss, Minister for Small Business, the Government has rolled out a series of initiatives to help the small business owners in New Zealand.  It's great to see the Government start focusing on small business, after all, 97% of businesses in New Zealand are classified as SME. Here's what we learnt.